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Capturing the Semantics of Smell: The Odeuropa Data Model for Olfactory Heritage Information

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The Semantic Web (ESWC 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 13261))

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Abstract

Smells are a key sensory experience. They are part of a multi-billion euro industry and gaining traction in different research fields such as museology, art, history, and digital humanities. Until now, a semantic model for describing smells and their associated experiences was lacking. In this paper, we present the Odeuropa data model for olfactory heritage information. The model has been developed in collaboration with olfactory and art historians. Our model can express the various stages in a smell’s lifetime – creation, being experienced, deodorisation – and their relation to locations, times and the agents that interact with them.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    It is relevant the inclusion of the perfumes of Grasse in the UNESCO list. Source: https://bit.ly/3opPRin. Last visited: 15/03/2022.

  2. 2.

    Examples in Japan: https://bit.ly/3u4ySFD and in France: https://bit.ly/3rYpv7Q.

  3. 3.

    https://www.odeuropa.eu.

  4. 4.

    https://www.osmotheque.fr/en/the-collection/.

  5. 5.

    https://odeuropa.eu/objectives-timeline/.

  6. 6.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragrance_wheel Last visited: 07/12/2021.

  7. 7.

    While some of these are clearly carriers (wind, bottle) and other smell sources (jasmine, sulphur), some specific elements can embody any of the two role depending on the context (smoke). For this reason, we decided to have a single vocabulary including all terms, reporting the preferred role when possible.

  8. 8.

    In that case, there will not be a Smell Interaction, but a single Smell Emission having as source the union of the different ingredients.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been partially supported by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme within the Odeuropa project (grant agreement No. 101004469). Smells that helped get this paper out: citrus (to boost our energy levels), rosemary (to keep us alert) and the smell of hell (to keep us on our toes).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. EURECOM, Sophia Antipolis, France

    Pasquale Lisena & Raphaël Troncy

  2. Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Daniel Schwabe

  3. KNAW Humanities Cluster, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Marieke van Erp, Inger Leemans & Sofia Colette Ehrich

  4. Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK

    William Tullett

  5. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Lizzie Marx

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  1. Pasquale Lisena
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  2. Daniel Schwabe
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Correspondence to Pasquale Lisena .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands

    Paul Groth

  2. Universidad Simón Bolívar, Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology, Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany

    Maria-Esther Vidal

  3. Institut Polytechnique de Paris "DIG", Télécom ParisTech, Palaiseau, France

    Fabian Suchanek

  4. University of Southern California, Marina del Rey, CA, USA

    Pedro Szekley

  5. IBM Research - Thomas J. Watson Research, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA

    Pavan Kapanipathi

  6. LaSIGE, Fac de Ciencias,Edif C6, Pis0 3, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Catia Pesquita

  7. University of Nantes, Nantes, France

    Hala Skaf-Molli

  8. Aalto University, Espoo, Finland

    Minna Tamper

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Lisena, P. et al. (2022). Capturing the Semantics of Smell: The Odeuropa Data Model for Olfactory Heritage Information. In: Groth, P., et al. The Semantic Web. ESWC 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13261. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06981-9_23

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